Guardian Writer Dave Hill On Politics, People & Goings On

July 06, 2008

Ray Lewis: It Gets Worse For Boris & Dave

From The Observer:

"The mayor's office [last week] repeatedly insisted that Lewis was not aware of allegations of financial and sexual misconduct made against him by parishioners and had not even been told by the Church of England that he was disbarred from holding office in 1999...But that defence was dramatically undermined last night when church sources said Lewis actually appealed against the revoking of his licence in 2000, when he returned to Britain after working overseas.

Remember Lewis at Thursday's press conference, adamant that he'd known nothing of these things?

"The Rev Chris Newlands, chaplain to the Bishop of Chelmsford, who was responsible for overseeing Lewis's parish, said: 'When Mr Lewis came back from Guyana to England, he knew his licence had been revoked. The licence had been revoked because he was doing things he shouldn't have been doing. He asked for permission to preach again in 2000, but it wasn't granted.'"

Staggering.

"Lewis is also said to have been told that the Church was concerned about his financial activities, both in Britain and Grenada, during pastoral meetings with church representatives in Grenada in 1999. He left for Guyana the next year. A spokesman for Johnson said last night that Lewis had promised the mayor he was not aware of the allegations from parishioners until last week. Told that he had actually appealed against his disbarment, the spokesman said: 'If that is the case, that is not consistent with what he told us. It is very disappointing, because Boris was prepared to give Ray the benefit of the doubt and if he has misled us then he has let us down.'"

Boris, you've been had. So has Cameron. And your party's claims to know best about fixing the social fabric have taken a blow. Not that the chief architect of its 'caring' pitch has faced reality.

"The former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith rode to Lewis's defence last night, attacking what he called a 'disgusting' media campaign against a good man. 'I think you are going to crush a good man who has done some fantastic work, who has rescued more kids than anyone who writes stories will ever do in their lives,' he said. 'I am disgusted with the manhunt that's gone on. He is not a politician; he came in because Boris asked him to sort out street gangs. Everybody has a past.'"

Some Tories never learn. Still, one at least is starting to catch on.

"But other senior Tories were distancing themselves. A spokesman for Francis Maude, who sits on the board of trustees of Lewis's Eastside Young Leaders Academy - an after-school facility for disafffected teenagers - said he had not known about the allegations in Lewis's past and that Maude's involvement with the academy had been 'decreasing' lately."

Maude, you'll recall, is on the board of Lewis's "respect" academy. Steve Norris, Boris ally and appointee, chairs it. How can they not resign from it? The most amazing thing about the Tories' four year embrace of Lewis is that none of the mutterings about him seem to have reached their ears. Any one of these should have set alarm bells ringing. And if they did hear any of the stories I've been hearing for the past two months and simply dismissed them as politically-motivated, informed by "political correctness" or just because they didn't want to hear, then they need shooting. Full Observer story here.